The oldest known human fossil has been discovered.

A 2.8-million-year-old fragment of a human lower jawbone unearthed in Ethiopia, Africa, suggests that human history dates back 400,000 years.

A fossilized lower jawbone fragment was found in Ethiopia. Photo: Discovery News.

Scientists unearthed the fossil in the Ledi-Geraru area of ​​Afar state, northern Ethiopia. Previously, the oldest known human fossil dated back approximately 2.3-2.4 million years. This discovery pushes back the evolutionary history of humankind by about 400,000 years.

"Three million years ago, humans were relatively similar to monkeys, living in trees and walking on two legs," said Brian Villmoare, a researcher at the University of Nevada Las Vegas who led the study of the newly discovered fossils. "They lived in forests, had small brains, didn't eat meat, and didn't use tools."

"After two million years, humans developed large brains, used stone tools, and became carnivorous. Therefore, this transitional period is extremely important in terms of human evolution."

Villmoare and colleagues suggest that the recently discovered human bone and teeth fossil may be a common ancestor of two separate human groups that diverged approximately 2.3 million years ago, one remaining in Ethiopia and the other migrating to Tanzania.

According to Discovery News, because only a fragment of a lower jawbone was found, scientists were unable to provide further information about the rest of this individual's body.

"However," Villmoare added, "the bone fragment has elements that suggest the lower jaw teeth had shrunk, consistent with evolutionary adaptation to the genus Homo."

According to VnExpress